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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
15th July 2025
International Day of Women in Diplomacy: UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls visit to Geneva
1st May 2025
The UN Commission on the Status of Women: My first visit as UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls
17th May 2013 Dushanbe, Tajikistan
An Unforgettable Central Asian Experience
The following is a post by Alice Harrison, who recently visited Tajikistan with regional Defence Attaché David Harrison May appeared to be a wonderful month to visit the Pamirs for those interested in flowers. Every village passed had banks of shaggy, bearded irises planted in its gardens and along the road. The first of the eremus were […]
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17th May 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Africa in London
This has been a fortnight of focus on Africa in London. It started with the Somalia Conference on 7 May in Lancaster House, following up the Somalia Conference of a year ago. The difference was that this time the Government of Somalia co-chaired the event and the agenda concentrated on its priorities. Feedback from those […]
17th May 2013 Bangalore, India
Sky’s the limit in Indo-UK aerospace technology
A couple of weeks ago I was involved in an event bringing together aerospace researchers and companies from the UK and India together for three days to discuss opportunities for working together. We asked Venkatesh Janakiram, Senior Trade & Investment Adviser in Aerospace at the British Deputy High Commission, to write about the event… One hundred […]
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15th May 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Together against Religious Persecution
What is it that leading British Sikhs, Jews, Hindus, Roman Catholics, Copts, Buddhists, Presbyterians and Muslims have in common? Too often, we hear about the differences between faiths. But this week we saw an extraordinary coming together for a great cause. On 14 May, Foreign Office Minister Alastair Burt received in person an open letter […]
14th May 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Promoting London’s Olympic legacy in Guatemala’s second city, Xela
With the Ambassador in London at the FCO’s Leadership Conference, this is a guest blog from Hector Marroquin, our Prosperity Officer. Last weekend we went to Quetzaltenango, Guatemala’s second city, also known as Xela, to take part in their Cultural and Business Festival, “XelajuEs… Diferente!” This was the second year the Municipality of Xela had […]
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14th May 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Listening: The Secret of Leadership
Much has been written about what makes a good leader. Books have analysed the nature of leadership. Business schools charge high fees to teach leadership skills to up-and-coming middle managers. And leadership gurus have made fortunes using clever sounding buzz-words such as “demonstrate integrity”, “build trust” and “inspire innovation”. This week I will be at […]
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14th May 2013 London, UK
A startling statistic
A startling statistic – over half the businesses that get help from UK Trade & Investment go on to win additional sales of over £600,000 within two years. The UK’s trade performance is often discussed in the abstract, or at the macroeconomic level. People look at the effect on UK GDP or the balance of […]
14th May 2013 Toronto, Canada
SINtern in Toronto: Saira Meese-Tamuri
Earlier this month, we recruited a new intern to work with SIN Canada from the British Consulate-General here in Toronto. Saira Meese-Tamuri will be taking projects based on some of the eight great technologies forward, as well as working on external communications (follow her on Twitter at @SMeeseTamuri). You may have already seen some of […]
14th May 2013 Vientiane, Laos
Laos through my eyes – Anne Keothavong
This article is part of a series of guest blogs contributed by Brits who have lived and worked in Laos, or who have other interesting links to Laos. My parents were both born in Laos but came to the UK in the 1970s. I was born in Hackney in East London. Having visited Laos twice (once 8 […]
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13th May 2013 Ottawa, Canada
Data: the Raw Material of the 21st Century
In today’s ‘Information Age’, data is the fuel driving innovation in economy and society. Chris Yiu, head of the Digital Government Unit at the Policy Exchange (a leading London think tank) sits on the UK Government’s Data Strategy Board. He was recently in Ottawa to speak at the Data Effect conference about UK initiatives. I […]
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